confessions of a start-up ceo http://adamrneary.com adam neary's blog about the journey of an entrepreneur Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:58:50 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 adam neary's blog about the journey of an entrepreneur confessions of a start-up ceo no adam neary's blog about the journey of an entrepreneur confessions of a start-up ceo http://adamrneary.com/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/headshot.jpg http://adamrneary.com 40.734718-74.005326 Confessions of a Startup CEO: Pre-launch Jitters http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/adamrneary/GeOR/~3/VTv8CCL6VlQ/ http://adamrneary.com/2010/09/01/confessions-of-a-startup-ceo-pre-launch-jitters/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:51:37 +0000 Adam http://adamrneary.com/?p=308
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]]> http://adamrneary.com/2010/09/01/confessions-of-a-startup-ceo-pre-launch-jitters/feed/ 4 Confessions of a Startup CEO,Minimum Viable Product,Product Launch,Profitably,Startup We're launching Profitably v1.0 this week, which means we are open to accepting our first paying customers. Quite a big step, but with it comes some major league jitters around the "Minimum Viable Product" and sending our baby out into the real world! - We're launching Profitably v1.0 this week, which means we are open to accepting our first paying customers. Quite a big step, but with it comes some major league jitters around the "Minimum Viable Product" and sending our baby out into the real world! confessions of a start-up ceo no http://adamrneary.com/2010/09/01/confessions-of-a-startup-ceo-pre-launch-jitters/ Confessions of a Startup CEO: We Won! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/adamrneary/GeOR/~3/lezC9QqsA6o/ http://adamrneary.com/2010/06/11/confessions-of-a-startup-ceo-we-won/#comments Fri, 11 Jun 2010 13:58:12 +0000 Adam http://adamrneary.com/?p=263
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]]> http://adamrneary.com/2010/06/11/confessions-of-a-startup-ceo-we-won/feed/ 3 Confessions of a Startup CEO,north bridge,Profitably,Startup,venture competition There's a lot of excitement around the office coming off a big win up in Boston!  The North Bridge Venture Partners venture competition featured a $75k prize but it also came with a hearty vote of confidence. - There's a lot of excitement around the office coming off a big win up in Boston!  The North Bridge Venture Partners venture competition featured a $75k prize but it also came with a hearty vote of confidence. confessions of a start-up ceo no http://adamrneary.com/2010/06/11/confessions-of-a-startup-ceo-we-won/ Confessions of a Startup CEO: Kick-off party tonight! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/adamrneary/GeOR/~3/wT37vjB1oO8/ http://adamrneary.com/2010/05/27/kick-off-party-tonight/#comments Thu, 27 May 2010 15:04:23 +0000 Adam http://adamrneary.com/?p=251
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]]> http://adamrneary.com/2010/05/27/kick-off-party-tonight/feed/ 0 CEO,champagne,Confessions of a Startup CEO,nyc,Profitably,soho,Startup We're kicking this project off right tonight at Profitably World HQ!  Team, advisors, significant others, and random passers by will be drinking a little champagne to celebrate the achievements to date and gear up for the road ahead. We're kicking this project off right tonight at Profitably World HQ!  Team, advisors, significant others, and random passers by will be drinking a little champagne to celebrate the achievements to date and gear up for the road ahead. The launch party will be a bit more elaborate...when an actual launch comes together!   But for tonight, the team gets to put their feet up a little and enjoy.  What an exciting time! confessions of a start-up ceo no http://adamrneary.com/2010/05/27/kick-off-party-tonight/ Confessions of a Startup CEO: True confessions http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/adamrneary/GeOR/~3/eTzhGzEm_sw/ http://adamrneary.com/2010/05/24/true-confessions/#comments Mon, 24 May 2010 14:20:21 +0000 Adam http://adamrneary.com/?p=246
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]]> http://adamrneary.com/2010/05/24/true-confessions/feed/ 0 Confessions of a Startup CEO,New York,Profitably,Startup,video blogging Today we launch a new format for Confessions.  The glossier "Disney" style is out, and I am speaking a bit more from the heart about our challenges as well as our successes.  It might take a few episodes to really get it right, Today we launch a new format for Confessions.  The glossier "Disney" style is out, and I am speaking a bit more from the heart about our challenges as well as our successes.  It might take a few episodes to really get it right, but I think a more frank format will provide a much more honest and open window into the company.  Enjoy! (And we want to hear your thoughts--comment below!) Transcription: Hi, I am Adam Neary, and this is "Confessions of a Startup CEO." This is sort of a different format this week. Looking back at the last 6-7 videos I am starting to feel that they have started to feel they got a bit "Disney" on us, and they are looking more like sales pitches than the natural confessions of what is going on here, you know, windows into the company, and I think that is a shame. I feel that this is a great forum to be actually being able to open up to you guys and talk about what is actually going on. You know, really step through some of the insecurities that we have and some of the fears that we have got and some of the challenges that we have got as well as all the great things. So we are doing a bit of a more informal concept but I still want to keep it energetic and engaging but want to let you know what the challenges are. You know, I think it is a mirror of what is going on, on the sales side of the work where there are actually a lot of great things going on sales side. We have got target right now that we have set of 10 customers this morning and we have got 15. So 50% further along where we should be on this stage and you know that is great. The down side and the flip side of that is I feel like as we go through this process and I have been talking to customers, I feel I sound too salesy, and people sometimes gloss over and they kind of say what is that you are selling and that is very difficult for me because I haven’t spent a lot of time on the sales role. I am a data guy not a sales guy. I am an outcome guy and a problem solver. I kind of just want to have a heart to heart with customers sometimes and just say, "Listen, I know that you have got struggles because we all have struggles and I think some of the struggles that you face are the kind of things that I am well suited to fix and help with. We are going to do that by pulling through your quick books data and running our analytics on it. We think our analytics are pretty best in class. You know these are the kind of things that we would charge $350,000 for Procter & Gamble or Unilever to have as diagnostics for their business, and I think we are able to do this in a scalable way that allows us to deliver you for free and I think it is going to add some more value there," but sometimes it is tough to get that sort of message across and you have got very limited windows to catch people’s attention. I get that but I think that what I am going to do over the next month or so and in so far as I am having the sales conversations I want to open a little but more and take some of the gloss off and take some of the sheen off it and say hey listen…we think it is going to add a lot of value to you and I want to talk to you about whether or not this makes sense for your business and so we want to follow the same pattern here. What else is going on? We have a brand new office behind me. I would walk around and show you the office but that seems…if you want to see the office you should come in and visit us. We are down at Broadway and Prince, and we are enjoying the space. Team is really working out well. We have got Francis really doing a nice job. We have got Chad Pugh who has been working with us from the design standpoint and that has been going very well. I think right now the biggest challenge that we face and this is something you know confessions of the startup is that right now we have started engaging with these customers and we need to show them the value. I think everyone that we talk to is like wow great idea, fantastic, confessions of a start-up ceo no http://adamrneary.com/2010/05/24/true-confessions/ Confessions of a Startup CEO: Start-up lessons learned…from Led Zeppelin http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/adamrneary/GeOR/~3/LxZe_JwHxOU/ http://adamrneary.com/2010/04/14/start-up-lessons-learned-from-led-zeppelin/#comments Thu, 15 Apr 2010 00:10:15 +0000 Adam http://adamrneary.com/?p=237
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]]> http://adamrneary.com/2010/04/14/start-up-lessons-learned-from-led-zeppelin/feed/ 1 CEO,Confessions of a Startup CEO,led zeppelin,Profitably,small business,Startup,venture capital "We're hope that we are Led Zeppelin's first album...for small business analytics." - What else can I say about that?  Watch the video and pass along the link! - - Transcription: Hi! I am Adam Neary, and this is "Confessions of a Startup CEO. "We're hope that we are Led Zeppelin's first album...for small business analytics." What else can I say about that?  Watch the video and pass along the link! Transcription: Hi! I am Adam Neary, and this is "Confessions of a Startup CEO." T... confessions of a start-up ceo no http://adamrneary.com/2010/04/14/start-up-lessons-learned-from-led-zeppelin/ Confessions of a Startup CEO: It’s all about boat speed. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/adamrneary/GeOR/~3/zHJnojshhpM/ http://adamrneary.com/2010/03/31/its-all-about-boat-speed/#comments Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:50:56 +0000 Adam http://adamrneary.com/?p=225
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]]> http://adamrneary.com/2010/03/31/its-all-about-boat-speed/feed/ 0 boat speed,Confessions of a Startup CEO,momentum In this episode, we talk through the importance of momentum, and how the metaphor of boat speed is so relevant to early stage start-ups. - The post was triggered by a number of key milestones that have helped us build a ton of momentum and buzz around ... In this episode, we talk through the importance of momentum, and how the metaphor of boat speed is so relevant to early stage start-ups. The post was triggered by a number of key milestones that have helped us build a ton of momentum and buzz around NYC (well, not ALL around NYC, but we're working hard!), including: * Identification of our CTO, Francis Hwang * Incorporation * Winning "Top Pitch" at the Founder Institute NYC Things are really looking great, and I would be excited to hear your ideas about building boat speed. Transcription: I am Adam Neary, and this is "Confessions of Startup CEO." This is episode 6 and it is all about boat speed. Now it has been a couple of weeks since our last post. I don’t like to normally go that long between episodes so I apologize. A tremendous amount has happened between now and then, which is one of the reasons why we haven’t had time to put a new video up. We are excited to announce that we incorporated and that the business that we are launching is called Profitably, Inc. More available at profitably.com. Even as of the last post we didn’t have a lot of information about my blog about how to get more information on whom you should contact if you want to learn more about what you are up to. Now you can go to profitably.com and we have little teasers site in there in the new version of it is coming out you know in a matter of weeks. So things are really picking up speed for us. In addition to our incorporation we are able to find our CTO hire which is the most important hire we have been thinking about recently. I am excited to announce Francis Hwang has joined our team. You know really excited to have him on board. He is one of the best known Ruby developers in New York and came with gushing and glowing recommendations from everyone I talked to in the development community. So we're very excited and we have also got a lot of investor attention. Recently pitched at the graduation of the Founder Institute, went for the New York session. If you don’t know about the Founder Institute check them out…very interesting. We just had our graduation and final pitch sessions and was pleased to be voted top pitch. We actually tied with one other person, Eddie Kim, of Simple PR. Between the two of us you know voted the best pitch and very excited, little bit of no strings attached cash, and more importantly a lot of investor attention. So we have been getting a lot of attention recently from people who are interested in getting involved in our seed round. So I want to let you guys know that all that's going on and we actually got some customers to sign on as well since we have last spoken. So what does this all have to do with boat speed? It is a common kind of metaphor that you know boats are very difficult to get moving fast. They are heavy and they sit on water. Once you are able to get a boat up to a larger speed, it is very easy to tack and turn the boat and so I think that really is a great metaphor for the way small business are run and how they are developed. You are constantly having conversations and you are constantly interacting with customers and investors, potential employers, and hires and partners. Through those conversations the ideas involve and what you know or thought you know or knew, continues to change. The important thing is you know if you are gathering people around you and gathering enthusiasm you get a big group of people there excited about what you are up to. It is very easy to pivot and it is very easy to change directions but the most difficult thing is building that momentum and getting things off the ground. So we are very open. We are not very secretive of what we are up to. We are trying to help small businesses operate more profitably. We have our pitch on the web right now and we are going to record a new version of it now that we have kind of grown a little bit and the ideas evolved. confessions of a start-up ceo no http://adamrneary.com/2010/03/31/its-all-about-boat-speed/ Confessions of a Startup CEO: You’re not unique, and it’s a good thing. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/adamrneary/GeOR/~3/4aUxVUuaGz4/ http://adamrneary.com/2010/03/05/youre-not-unique-and-its-a-good-thing/#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:12:22 +0000 Adam http://adamrneary.com/?p=207
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]]> http://adamrneary.com/2010/03/05/youre-not-unique-and-its-a-good-thing/feed/ 7 In this episode, we talk through why being unique can be such a drain on a small business. - Small businesses should be unique when it comes to their core offering and they way they address the marketplace, but when it comes to the non-core activities, In this episode, we talk through why being unique can be such a drain on a small business. Small businesses should be unique when it comes to their core offering and they way they address the marketplace, but when it comes to the non-core activities, they should be conforming to best practices and seeking out solutions other businesses have employed with success. Forums like startups.com (http://startups.com) and American Express Open (http://www.openforum.com/)are great places to look, and a little birdy told me there might be another solution in the works...keep your ear to the ground! Transcription: Hi! I'm Adam Neary, and this is Confessions of the Startup CEO. This is episode 5: "You are not unique." Now it goes against conventional wisdom to tell a small business owner that they are not unique, but I am going to do it anyway because it is good news. It is fight club time! You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake, and it is a good thing. Right? Because there are a lot of vendors and consultants out there that want to tell you that the challenges that you are facing are unique. They are different from the challenges that your competitors face. Your unique culture and the way you approach the market place is so different from what everyone else is doing that you need a custom solution. You need to craft something from scratch. We need to sit down and get a blank white board and start from scratch and try to figure out how to solve all your business problems and I think that's nonsense. You know, 10 years in the management consulting industry working with large organizations, what I have discovered is THEY are not unique. These large multinational organizations are all solving all of the same problems on a day by day basis, and when it comes to operations there is stuff that Toyota and Proctor and Gamble have been doing for 25 years that these organizations haven’t been doing. And if you walk in there and say, "We are going to start from scratch we are going to figure this out because you are so unique." Then those customers and those clients are missing out on opportunities just to take what is working to do it. So you know your business. You and your team know your business better than I would. So I want to say so that we are clear. This is not supposed to be an arrogant post. You should know what is unique about the way you engage in the market place. You should know what is unique about what you are offering your customers and THAT'S an opportunity to be unique. That is an opportunity to be different. When it comes to everything else, the non-core stuff, what you spend on office supplies. Many of you think about a million different things that are not core to your business...that is not an opportunity to be unique. Don’t be unique with accounting or legal, don’t be… So we have decided that you are not unique and have a conversation. So what is the next step? I think you treat a non-core business problem like a technical error that comes up on your computer. You have some kind of error code and your noise goes off and you take it to Google and you see what the Google has to say. You figure somebody else has already solved this problem. I want to take some non-core business problem that you have got something that has been nagging you and you have been thinking all along that I think maybe I know people have solved this problem and there got to be an answer out there like you. Use this post as an excuse to believe that it is true and just go Google it. Go to American Express Open. Go to startups.com where they are asking a lot of questions. Very soon we are going to have a forum where you can go too and hopefully that helps answer some of these problems. Take this confidence, take this encouragement and go solve the business problem that is not core to your business and see how it goes. I love…people have started to comment more and more on the blog and is picking it up on iTunes now. confessions of a start-up ceo no 2:54 http://adamrneary.com/2010/03/05/youre-not-unique-and-its-a-good-thing/ Time to bulldog these guys http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/adamrneary/GeOR/~3/MenpunBD844/ http://adamrneary.com/2010/03/03/time-to-bulldog-these-guys/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:34:50 +0000 Adam http://adamrneary.com/?p=203
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]]> http://adamrneary.com/2010/03/03/time-to-bulldog-these-guys/feed/ 0 http://adamrneary.com/2010/03/03/time-to-bulldog-these-guys/ Confessions of a Startup CEO: Customer development http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/adamrneary/GeOR/~3/hoI4TnuhrZQ/ http://adamrneary.com/2010/03/01/customer-development/#comments Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:21:36 +0000 Adam http://adamrneary.com/?p=177
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]]> http://adamrneary.com/2010/03/01/customer-development/feed/ 6 CEO,Confessions of a Startup CEO,customer development,Startup In this episode, we talk about the importance of thorough customer development in the form of research, surveys, and as much actual customer interaction as possible. - We want to make sure we really understand the pain points and what we can do to hel... In this episode, we talk about the importance of thorough customer development in the form of research, surveys, and as much actual customer interaction as possible. We want to make sure we really understand the pain points and what we can do to h... confessions of a start-up ceo no 3:54 http://adamrneary.com/2010/03/01/customer-development/ Confessions of a Startup CEO: The pitch! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/adamrneary/GeOR/~3/g_YXYXsX3e8/ http://adamrneary.com/2010/02/17/the-pitch/#comments Thu, 18 Feb 2010 01:04:23 +0000 Adam http://adamrneary.com/?p=134
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]]> http://adamrneary.com/2010/02/17/the-pitch/feed/ 14 Confessions of a Startup CEO,Startup,startup pitch,venture capital,venture pitch In this episode, we unveil the concept as we emerge from stealth mode. The video is basically a trial run for a pitch to investors later this week through the Founder Institute. - Importantly, though, we aren't raising money at this stage, In this episode, we unveil the concept as we emerge from stealth mode. The video is basically a trial run for a pitch to investors later this week through the Founder Institute (http://www.founderinstitute.com). Importantly, though, we aren't rais... confessions of a start-up ceo no http://adamrneary.com/2010/02/17/the-pitch/